i'm the senate republican whip jon kyl of arizona. by now, but americans the lawmakers are engaged in a difficult debate about the debt ceiling, the legal limit to the amount of money the federal government can borrow. the debt ceiling is currently set at a little more than $14 trillion and if the congress and the president don't reach an agreement to raise it by tuesday, the treasury secretary tells us america will no longer be able to pay its bills. the consequences of missing this deadline could be severe. it is precisely because of washington barrault's so much money, more than 40 cents out of every dollar spent. spending would have to shrink by 40% quickly. what is more, markets would likely respond, dropping in value and hurting their retirement savings of millions of americans. republicans have tried to work with democrats to avoid this result and put our country on a better path, but we need them to work with us. we start from the understanding that the reason the debt ceiling is a problem is because of runaway washington spen